kateblair.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

On this day 80 years ago, my grandfather escaped the Nazis. He’d spent 4 years in a POW camp after his Spitfire was shot down. For the last 3 months, he’d been forced on a winter march, where hundreds died. Too exhausted to go on, he & six friends hid in the hay of a barn they slept in overnight.

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www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/vot...

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my HORRIFYING cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com books

submitted 10 days ago • 41 comments

A thing I found odd when I lived & worked in the US a couple of decades ago, was that occasionally people would ask me questions they clearly knew the answer to, if they thought for a second. For example, they'd say how much they loved Eastenders, then ask if we had electricity in England. 1/3

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This is perfect casting and I will watch the hell out of this series.

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So excited to be a finalist for a Snow Willow Award for A Mist of Memories. And even more excited to see so many of my friends on the lists! Congratulations all!

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Congratulations Caroline Fernandez and Kate Blair for being Willow Award finalists. Plague Thieves and A Mist of Memories

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Monk seals are back from the edge of extinction. Still work to do, but look at that adorable face. Seriously. amp.abc.net.au/article/1050...

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People are getting more MMR vaccines (more than last year, anyway) in response to the measles epidemics. This one is close to my heart, as my mother almost died from the measles as a child. www.bbc.com/news/article...

submitted 23 days ago • 1 comment

There’s a great interview with Nick Park about Wallace And Gromit in last month’s Empire, and this bit in particular stood out. It sums up what artists have been trying to say about AI. The mistakes and the learning aren’t things to be bypassed, but a vital part of the process 🤟

submitted 28 days ago • 31 comments

A once-yearly treatment for HIV moves closer. A game changer, especially as it has the potential for generic manufacture. www.aidsmap.com/news/mar-202...

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It’s been a bad time for me, not just because of all the general awfulness in the world, and it’s so easy to get caught up in all the terrible. So I’m just going to post random good stuff for a little while. Like this, which should save many lives. www.bbc.com/news/article...

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Yes, they stole mine too. They stole everyone’s. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

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Honestly, the ‘good creative writing’ here is painful and I could barely get through it. AI writing impresses people who don’t really read, other than business books. This is why they love AI summaries. Those only make sense if the books you read make really basic points and are 98% filler.

submitted 33 days ago • 4 comments

I asked my daughter what music they played at her school dance yesterday. “You know, old classics, like Party in the USA and Timber.”

submitted 37 days ago • 1 comment

AI is SO USELESS for even the most basic things. Grr.

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Deepest sympathies to my friends/former colleagues in the Ministry of Finance. I feel for you right now.

submitted 38 days ago • 1 comment

I don’t think the US has grasped how international trust in them is gone. Completely. The world is reorienting away from them as fast as they can. Diplomacy is now about buying time to do that, not about mending bridges.

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Had a 2am realization that I have to cut a POV that makes up nearly half of my current work in progress. It's clearly the right choice, and will make it a much better story. But oof.

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I have a super warm & comforting kigurumi & since I’m not quite better I got changed into it after work today. Then a canvasser from a local political party came by, and we had a perfectly normal talk about early voting where we both pretended I wasn’t dressed like a giant raccoon.

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We have reached the ‘people skiing down the road’ part of the snowstorm. #dlws

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I have a Canadian flag somewhere. I got it when I became a citizen. I am sick today & not up to digging through my closets to find it. Let’s imagine I put it up for Flag Day anyway. Canada has a lot to work on, but there are many reasons I emigrated here & not the US. They are worth celebrating.

submitted 58 days ago • 3 comments

My next book (WE BURY NOTHING) coming out in the autumn is about the rise of intolerance, the importance of resistance and the attack on LGBTQ+ books in libraries. Because all of this is on my mind all the time & you can’t write a book without it seeping into & taking over your stories.

submitted 71 days ago • 1 comment

I’ve been working incredibly hard on tariff-related stuff in my non-writing career lately (which I don’t often talk about online). It’s been good to be a tiny part of something that is trying to make everything less bad.

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There’s so much going on that I missed this news. I have a BA in ancient history from Cardiff & the department was lovely & supportive & I adored my time there. I can’t believe this opportunity will be gone & such excellent facility will lose their jobs. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

submitted 71 days ago • 0 comments